ARLINGTON, Texas – A taxing sixth round late Saturday night inspired Errol Spence Jr. to unload his expansive offensive arsenal on Yordenis Ugas during the seventh round of their welterweight title unification fight at AT&T Stadium.

Spence caught Ugas with damaging left uppercuts, straight lefts and right hooks in an impressive three-minute stretch that represented the beginning of the end for the strong southpaw’s courageous Cuban opponent. An aggressive Spence was so dominant during the eighth round that two judges, Tim Cheatham and Glenn Feldman, scored it 10-8 for Spence, despite that he didn’t score a knockdown.

Though it took six rounds, Spence separated himself from Ugas and displayed why he is widely viewed as one of the top five fighters, pound-for-pound, in the sport. He was ahead by wide distances according to Cheatham (88-82), Feldman (88-82) and Steve Weisfeld (88-83) when a ringside physician advised referee Laurence Cole to stop the action at 1:44 of the 10th round because there was severe swelling surrounding Ugas’ right eye.

Spence spoke during his post-fight press conference about how his approach changed during the course of a fight that was competitive before he took complete control in the final few rounds.

“I think when the fight first started, I was being kinda impatient,” Spence said. “I don’t think I had my rhythm and my range, so you know, I was throwing like looping shots, you know, trying to throw hard shots and trying to catch him. But in the later rounds, when I started, you know, setting my shots up and placing my shots and picking my shots, and not throwing hard, but just, you know, letting ‘em go, I think I was catching him a lot, you know, and breaking him down.

“And I felt him breaking down because, you know, he wasn’t throwing like he usually do. So, I was like, ‘OK, I got him now.’ And then, you know, I just kept punching. You know, I thought the ref was gonna stop it a lot earlier. But, you know, he just let it keep going.”

Ugas’ swelling worsened to the point he couldn’t see at all out of his right eye. He protested Cole’s stoppage, even though it was later revealed that the former WBA “super” welterweight champion suffered a fractured right orbital bone.

Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) had gone all 12 rounds in each of his three previous victories – wins against Mikey Garcia (unanimous), Shawn Porter (split) and Danny Garcia (unanimous). The IBF/WBA/WBC champ produced his first stoppage since he knocked out overmatched Mexican contender Carlos Ocampo, who was the IBF’s mandatory challenger for Spence in June 2018 at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.